The Disappearance of Emily Potter
by Rikuriroxa
Summary: When a surprise guest interrupts their honeymoon with an outlandish tale, Emily and Harry are dragged into a mystery involving betrayal, family, and most sinister of all, murder. But are things quite what they seem? The newly wed couple seek to unravel a plot that has haunted them for a decade, but they don't even know it yet. Fem!Voldemort
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So this is the opening of 2.5. WOOT! I am eager to pound this one out. It'll be my first story that I have every detail planned out. YAY! Anywho, please enjoy my first attempt at a mystery.

Chapter 1

"But not a single one would I take back, as they led me straight to you."

Harry didn't even reach his wife knickers before a knock sounded on their front door. He burst out laughing. "Oh yeah, Emily, you really have Lucius under control there. The man didn't even last five minutes before he had to bug you."

"That blond toe rag better have a damn good excuse for being here." Emily had already started muttering obscenities to herself as she pull her wedding robes back on. Harry waited until she was decent and followed his wife downstairs. He figured it would be amusing to watch her blow off some frustration by yelling at the elder Malfoy.

The two made it to the front of the modest home, and Emily wrenched opened the door. The yelling did not commence, but instead it was a polite, "Can I help you?"

Harry, unnerved by this reaction wanted to edge to the side around his wife to see who was at the door. He found himself incapable, however, as Emily had already frozen him in place. Who ever it was, Emily didn't want him exposed to the person's view. This made sense, seeing as no one had any reason to come here.

The home was warded by curse breakers from Gringotts. Muggle repelling charms were standard, so at a bare minimum this person was not a muggle. However, at the same time, no one knew that they lived here. Emily made certain that no one could track their apparitions here, and the floo was highly regulated by the ministry and very private. So it was possible that a high level ministry official had come knocking, but then again, there was no obvious why.

Whatever the end result might have been, Harry didn't care. His wife was trying to keep him safe, when who only knew what threat may have been at the door. Harry began willing his magic to counteract the freezing charm. He was not as good at dispelling magic wandlessly as he was casting basic spells, but he could do this, eventually, with enough time.

The scene in front of him, however was not remaining idle. All of a sudden Harry heard a strangled, pained noise and saw the figure slightly as it dove straight at his wife. Harry panicked, and his magic surged, shattering a nearby vase as he ripped his wife's enchantment apart. He took two steps forwards, enough to see the shocked wide eyes of his wife as a young woman with startlingly familiar silver hair hugged her tightly from the front. This had been the woman he had briefly seen when he was dancing with his wife this afternoon.

His wife laid on the ground for only a moment before her face began to redden in anger. She then shouted, "Delphini Potter, what have I told you about time travel!"

* * *

Emily sat next to her husband on a settee as she watched their daughter try and pull herself together in a chair in front of them. The girl had cried against her chest for a solid three minutes on the floor before Emily lost patience with her. The girl looked to be almost Harry's age, she should be too old to cry like an infant. Clearly Harry had done a poor job in teaching his daughter how to maintain a certain sense of decorum.

Finally the girl calmed down enough to speak, though her words were interspersed with hiccups.

"M- hic- Mum, sorry abou- hic- t that." This only pushed Emily patience further to the edge.

"Stop snivelling." She waved her wand and calmed her daughter diaphragm. "I won't have my daughter being a water hose in front of me."

The girl nodded her head quickly, taking the sleeve of her robe and drying her eyes. Harry used this moment to speak.

"What's going on?" He looked at Emily. "How do you know this is our supposed daughter from the future?"

She scoffed at Harry. "A mother always knows her children, Harry."

He looked at her, mouth agape. "Woman, we don't have any of those yet!"

She gave him a cold look. That was rude. "Refer to me as 'woman' again, and I can assure you, that we never will."

He, paused, before nodding his head to her. "Sorry, but come on, you're speaking nonsense. We don't have kids, she looks nothing like us, so how do you know?"

Emily got up and knelt beside her daughter, lining up their faces to one another and they both looked at Harry. "We look nothing alike? Are you certain."

She saw Harry noticing the similarities soon enough. She didn't blame him for not noticing first hand. Her face was quite pale where as her daughter's complexion was a bit darker, more like her fathers. Also the girl had brown eyes, in the exact shade that Emily had at that age. Of course, those eyes were something Harry had never seen, only ever knowing the ruby pair she had now. But once you saw past those, and the silver hair with blue tips, things started matching up.

Their faces were almost mirror images of each other. The same nose, same chin and cheekbones. Even the length of their foreheads were identical. Harry, slowly started nodding. "Okay, I see the similarities now, but how did you know so soon?"

"When I was her age I had the same brown eyes. Also, when I opened the door, her reaction to seeing me screamed long lost child. It was a type of joy I'd never seen before. Once she started hugging me and crying I put everything together."

"So you put all the clues together and you came up with the answer of: time traveling daughter. I'm still not really convinced."

"You don't really blame Dudley." Suddenly the girl spoke. Emily watched her husband's eyes widen in surprise.

"What?"

"You don't blame your cousin for how he treated you. You know that his parents conditioned him that way. You won't ever really consider him family, but you don't blame him for his actions. You never told him though, you felt too guilty."

This was something that Harry had only recently realized himself. He had confided in Emily that he often thought of Dudley and Uncle Vernon now that his aunt was dead. He wondered how the two were holding up, but he didn't dare try and reach out to them. Not when the person who killed his aunt was her, his wife. She knew he carried that guilt and probably would for the rest of his life.

Harry swallowed thickly at her words. "Okay." He stared off into space for a moment, thinking about something she couldn't fathom. "I believe you."

Emily slowly stood and watched the two of them and noticed something rather queer. Her daughter had, so far, showered her with attention and love, but up until proving herself to Harry, she hadn't even given him the time of day. Emily would have thought the roles would be reversed. That she would be the one less loved by their children. That her time spent taking over the world would create a rift between her and her family, especially her children, and though they would still love her, her bonds with them would be weaker over all than their bonds with their father. A pit of worry opened in her stomach, was it possible, somehow, that Harry wasn't the father of her children? After all the girl didn't have any really identifying features from Harry. Though the girl had not objected when Harry had referred to her as their daughter, Emily couldn't help but wonder.

Emily didn't wish to open this can of worms just yet, however, so she chose a different topic to broach.

"I'm more than certain I have spoken to you, many times, of the dangers of time travel, Delphini. Why would you attempt to do something so reckless? Your very existence in the past, where you aren't even born yet, might I add, could cause major fluctuations and changes in the timeline."

Delphini met her eyes and her words almost took Emily's breath away. "I know, mum. I hope they do. I came back to keep you from dying."

Emily's eyes rounded and she gave her husband a quick glance. He didn't even meet her eyes, but she saw that his complexion now almost matched her own. The man looked as though someone had told him that he had hours left to live. Emily made her way back to the settee and wrapped her hand around her husbands.

Gently kissing him on the side of his face, she murmured, "Relax love, we'll figure it out." Louder, she addressed her daughter. "How did you travel so far back? As of now, the only reliable way to travel through time is with the use of a time turner and they are woefully limited in ability."

The girl smiled, "I stole a special artifact from the department of mysteries, one that doesn't exist yet. You would have been so proud of me, mum. Hermione Granger creates it two years af-"

"Stop!" Emily said abruptly. "Do not tell me of the future. I do not wish to know more than necessary about why you are here. Keep as much information to yourself as possible unless I state otherwise. Are we clear.

The girl nodded. "Good," Emily said, "Now, when does my death happen?"

"The last time I saw you was when I was seven. That's kind of why I broke down when I saw you. I'm sorry, mum." The young woman once again started tearing up, but this time Emily did not feel stressed by seeing it. This time, a strong urge came over her to soothe the young girl. Emily stood up, released her husband's hand and went to hug her daughter. She was starting to feel like a pendulum, making her way back and forth, trying to soothe both of her family members. It was an uncomfortable situation. Consoling people was not in her repertoire, but like anything else, she still excelled at doing it.

Harry, who finally had apparently pulled himself together, approached them. "What do we need to do to stop this? We can stop it, right? That's way you came back?"

"Yes, we'll go away. Far away so mum won't be in danger." Delphini spoke quietly, but her words were firm and they both heard her.

Emily was about to interject, seeing as she had no intentions of leaving Britain. Not when she finally had the fresh start she desired. The country was at her fingertips and all she had to do was take it.

"Okay, I'll start packing everything. I'll be back soon." Harry turned to go gather their things. The news of her impending death had rattled him enough that he was willing to just go along with anything he needed to, in order to keep his wife now. She could only watch him stupidly as he went towards their bedroom.

"No." A cold voice said.

Harry and Emily both turned to find Delphini holding a wand. A very familiar wand. A wand that was fabled and powerful. One made of elder. One that Harry also had tucked in his waistband. One that, if it truly called her its master, meant she had bested its previous owner.

"Delphini," Emily said slowly, not wanting to spook her daughter. "What are you doing?"

For right now, Delphini Potter had the elder wand pointed directly at Harry's chest. "Mother and I will be leaving alone, dad." Finally, Delphini addressed her father, properly. "The invitation does not include you."

Harry looked flabbergasted. "Why on earth not?"

Delphini sneered at him. "Makes no sense to run away, if we're going to take mum's murderer with us."


	2. Chapter 2

Personal Note: (Ignore if desired) Well, the dates turned out fine, but she told me she wasn't interested. It sucks, but I'm a grown man, and if she isn't interested, then its not what I want either I suppose. Cuz I want that Emily/Harry romance, you know. Yeah, you know, she gotta be kinda crazy AND passionate and those things don't come from indifference. I appreciate the time she spent with me though, in the end she helped give me the closure I needed from my last relationship. I feel unburdened, not really free, but just as though the weight has been taken away. That, in and of itself, was worth the disappointment.

A/N: Anywho, we are back at it and the fun times keep coming. We start to draw from plot points earlier in the series that I have left dormant until now, so things should tie together in an interesting manner. Ciao.

Chapter 2

"I'll be taking that." As Emily spoke the words, the elder wand was wrenched from her daughter's fingers. "Sit down, Delphini."

"But, mum, list-"

"No, you listen to me. I understand that you are very upset, but your father did NOT kill me. We will figure things out, and we most certainly," She directed a pointed stare at her husband, "will not be leaving."

Harry had the decency to look sheepish. Hopefully, she thought, he was over the initial panic of their daughter's news. She needed him clear headed if they were to figure this out. Only he would know what his motives were in the future, and even then, people change with time.

"Start from the beginning and leave nothing out."

"What do you mean?"

Emily sighed, certainly her daughter was not this thick. "The beginning of this whole fiasco. We need information if we wish to ascertain what exactly happens."

Her daughter wore a pensive look, before speaking. "There isn't much I remember to be honest. You weren't really home all that much, but the times you were, were always happy times. One day, you and dad, went out somewhere. I was left with Uncle Draco." Harry snorted at this, but didn't make any comment. "I was there for three days, and uncle hadn't heard a thing from you. The two of you were only meant to be gone for one day, and I started throwing tantrums on the second day."

Delphini sighed, "Finally, on the night of the third day, dad came home. He pulled me to him, and hugged me close. I asked where you were mum, but he didn't answer me. He just kept hugging me."

She turned to her father. "I remember being so confused. Finally I stopped asking. It wasn't until weeks later that I over heard you talking to Uncle Draco, that I found out the truth. He asked you what happened to mum and you told him that you had killed her. That she was never going to come back. That she couldn't come back. Not again."

"I never really understood everything that you said that night, but I got the gist. Something happened that night and you killed mum. I don't know what it was, so I planned to come back and get her as far away from you as possible."

When her daughter finished speaking, Emily waited patiently for more. But when it was obvious that more was not coming she frowned. The girl knew practically nothing. How on earth were they going to figure this out with so little to work with?

"So you literally only know that your father kills me, and that's it? What about the date? What is the date on my tombstone?"

"Dad never had you buried, and I never asked why."

Emily turned to her husband. "Harry if I died, would it be reasonable to assume you would hold a funeral, even if you were the one to kill me?"

Harry, slightly shocked that he was being brought into the conversation, paused before answering. "Er, well, yeah, I think I would. Some sort of ceremony, at the very least."

"Something of which, if Delphini does not remember, we can assume never happened. Therefore, I most likely am not dead."

Emily was about to make further conjectures, until she noticed her daughter's face take on a dark hue. Right before the screaming started.

"SO WHAT?! YOU JUST ABANDONNED US FOR A DECADE THEN? IS THAT WHAT YOUR TRYING TO SAY?"

The girl drew another breath, but Emily had already silenced her so when her mouth opened she did nothing more than wheeze.

"I said nothing of the sort. Calm yourself. Though I may not have given birth to you yet, I am more than old enough to bend you over my knee, do you understand me?"

Emily watched in awe, as her daughter's features lightened almost instantly, the anger seeming to fade in mere moments as she nodded her assent. She was somewhat disturbed by this until her husband spoke.

"Wow, she takes after you all right. Rage and fury one moment, calm and poised the next."

She glared at him, but knew he was right. She had a remarkably powerful amount of control over her emotional state. It shouldn't be too shocking her own offspring show similar skill, but to witness it was unnerving.

Removing the spell from Delphini, she continued thinking aloud. "So if I am correct, and I am alive in this future, what keeps me from home? Obviously, its something you are aware of Harry, especially seeing as you stated I was dead. What do you think would be grave enough for you to say such a thing?"

"I honestly don't think I ever would. Not if I knew you weren't dead. I wouldn't give up hope that you wouldn't find your way back to me."

"Hmm, a conundrum. You wouldn't kill me, I honestly believe that, but what if I did something very bad? What would you do?" Emily smirked, "Just how would you punish me?"

"Eww." Judging by her daughter's sound of disgust, her sultry tone clearly was portrayed well.

"Oh hush, your sixteen, you know you didn't grow on a tree."

Harry coughed loudly, and spoke over her. "Well, I don't really like discussing this, considering I had never thought to reveal my plan to you. Its really the worst case scenario, after all."

"Out with it, come on, Harry. We don't have all day."

He laughed at her, "Judging by Delphini's story, we have a minimum of eight or so years before this happens. So I think we do have all day, just about. Anyway, my plan Z, I guess you could call it, would be to destroy your body and place your soul into a form that can't hurt anyone or anything."

Emily looked at him coolly. "So, you'd just get rid of my body and stick me inside of some, lesser creature? Barely alive? That's cruel."

Harry nodded to her. "It is. But if its something I have to do, then I will. Also, I wouldn't tell our daughter that I did it to you, I'd rather tell her you were dead."

This quieted the room. No one said anything as they each mulled over the conversation thus far.

Delphini stood, "So, what? That's it? Mystery solved? If I go back to my time now, will things be different now that you know the future? Mother will suddenly have been with me this whole time?"

Emily snorted, derisively. "Time travel on such a scale that you have spoken of is impossible in this day and age. So we have no point of reference on whether or not the timeline can change in such a manner. Even with m-" She stopped speaking in a huff. "Even with my knowledge on time travel, we have no idea what the outcome could be." She fervently hoped that no one caught her potential faux pas.

Delphini took her seat again, seemingly oblivious, but it was, not suprising, her husband who was looking at her strangely. Harry understood her more than anyone else, and he knew that she was suddenly hiding something. However, he seemed loathe to confront her about it in front of their daughter.

"Then, I suppose I'll leave." Delphini said quietly. "I'll go home and if things aren't different, then I'll come back."

Emily gave her daughter a hard look, "You should not fool around with time travel Delphini. The potential repercussions could wipe you from existence, even more so if you count the fact that you are interferring with your parent's lives."

Her daughter looked at her with such a look of longing it mad Emily's hearth ache. "Sometimes, mother, the risks we take are worth it for the reward." The words were just over a whisper and the pain the sentence held was felt by the entire room. Emily once again found herself making her way to her daughter, hugging her tightly.

"A child should not take risks for the sake of their parents. It should be the other way around." Harry said this from his chair. Emily assumed he was still rather uncomfortable with this entire thing to physically intervene. To be honest, Emily herself was amazed at how quickly she had latched onto Delphini. Though it had been Harry who had stated that he wanted children and not her, she found herself already deeply attached to the young woman before her. Maybe every woman had such maternal instincts somewhere inside of them.

Eventually Emily did have to let go. Though she would never admit it to anyone, even Harry, she felt her eyes burning at the upcoming separation. The poor girl had been apart of her life for a mere two hours and Emily didn't wish to let her go. Still, the time had to come, and she reluctently let go.

"I'll see you in a few minutes. Either when I get back to the future or when I come back a second time. If I don't come back, at least you will know everything is fine. I'd like to say I'll miss you, but... for me, we won't be separated for long. I'm sorry." Delphini seemed to feel her Emily's turmoil and tried her best to placate her.

Emily, not wanting to appear so fragile, responded. "We'll see you when we see you, Delphini. Whether in a few minutes or a year, we'll find each other again. Take care." She handed the second Elder wand back to her daughter. "Make sure you apologize to your father when you give this back to him."

Delphini nodded before standing up next to her mother and making her way towards Harry. She bent down low to whisper in his ear, and Emily didn't have the faintest idea as to what she told him. But she saw him tear up and quickly stand to give the girl a strong hug as well. He let the tears fall and while he did whisper, the words were not silent enough to escape her hearing.

"I love you too, Delphini. Even if I've only known you for an hour, its true." Trust in Harry to love someone immediately, Emily thought. While she was greatly attached to the girl, it was Harry who already loved her wholeheartedly. Another by product of his upbringing, true, but the sight of the two of them warmed her heart. This would one day be their family.

Delphini broke the embrace and Emily saw the tears making their way down her daughter's face and she realized that this was as emotional for her as it was for them. She nodded to them both before making her way to the door and leaving just as quickly as she arrived. A part of Emily strongly wanted to make her way to a window and watch the girl leave, but she knew that the less knowledge she had about Delphini's way of time travel the better things would be, so she stay where she was.

Harry had no such compunctions though, and made his way to a window after a few moments pause, only to return to the living room moments later, saying, "She's already gone."

He made his way to her and they sank into the couch behind them. The stayed silent for a brief moment, before Emily turned to her husband and said something that floored him.

"I want a baby."

He looked at her, eyes widening to a ridiculous degree. He then laughed, open and loud, for several seconds. "You know, I was just thinking the same thing."

"We'll have to work hard, but I'm certain if we conceive Delphini now, we can get our future plans sorted before I become incapacitated."

He grinned at her, then asked, "Are you... er, well, is your body ready? To have a child, I mean? I know its not, well, its not a normal body, so..."

She grinned back at him, "Yes, just a spell I have to remove and then things will resume their natural course immediately. Though pregnancy isn't a guaranteed thing, love. We might have to try more than once." She gave him her signature look, letting him know exactly what she wanted.

He suddenly put an arm around her waist and pulled her on top of him as the two of them spread out along the couch. 'Well,' she thought, 'I suppose a trial run on the sofa isn't a terrible idea.' The two of them were kissing heavily and their clothes were quite askew in a few minutes and they were so caught up in the moment that the two of them didn't hear the door opening.

"Eww, you two are so gross!" Emily wrenched her lips from her husband, quickly pulling her hand out of his trousers, as she looked up to see Delphini looking at them. Well, she wasn't really looking at them, the girl had her face covered by her hands.

"If you didn't want to be grossed out, then maybe you shouldn't have come back in time to the night of your parent's wedding, Delphini." Emily said shortly. Delphini continued to keep her face hidden as she slowly turned around. This was the second time that her daughter had interrupted their attempts at sex and Emily briefly wondered if it was going to a recurring theme. Certainly one single child wouldn't interfere with her personal activities with her husband too much, right? Emily pulled herself off of her husband and made certain that they were both decent, and addressed the young woman.

"I take it, that due to your reappearance, the future is still unfavorable."

"Oh, um, yes, things still aren't what I wanted."

Had Emily been any other person, she'd have accepted her daughter's pause as a normal response for a child who'd just walked in on her parents trying to go about her own conception, but Emily was a bit paranoid. When she heard someone pause, she suspected betrayal. Of course, this was her very own daughter, so her thoughts didn't go straight to the deep end, but she did think the girl was hiding something. So, she said the first thing she normally did when she suspected someone of lying to her.

"Do not think you can lie to Lo- damn it, to your mother, Delphini. I always know."

She watched as the young girl looked very surprised. She didn't try to respond so Emily pushed further. "Tell me the truth."

"Someone told me not to go back to the future."

Emily was thrown off course by that. If her daughter was to be believed, then someone had intercepted her right outside their own house, because Harry had looked outside moments after her departure and said she was gone. Some one who knew the entire situation intimately. There was only one person who fit this description and Emily knew it immediately.

"Tell me Delphini," she locked eyes with her daughter. "What exactly did my future self tell you when she stopped you from returning to your own time?"


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Shorter chapters mean faster updates I guess.

Chapter 3

Delphini sighed. Her mother would know, considering that she was probably the only one with a time turner. Her father, however, looked at her mother in shock.

"Wait a second, your telling me after all the things I've heard you say about time travel over the years, you've done it before?"

Her mother didn't make eye contact with her father. "I have never time traveled before, no. However, it is quite apparent that I will do so within the next twenty-four hours."

Her father only gaped at her before his brain caught up with him. "You can only use a time turner for a five hour trip, not twenty-four. So what method are you using?"

Delphini watched her father grill her mother and was interested herself. She had a rather large knowledge on time travel, as she had been investigating ways to get to the past and save her mother and her father was correct. The time turners the ministry had were only capable of a five hour trip.

"I'm surprised you actually listened to Ms. Granger when she lectured you on them, Harry."

"It was a risky business, so I paid more attention than normal."

Her mother smiled. "The restrictions on time turners are ministry approved limitations, not limitations on the travel itself. An hour reversal charm that is deeply embedded within the magic that operates the turner, rendering it useless if removed."

"And you got around that, how?"

"Because I am Emily R- Potter. I can do anything."

Her father sighed. "Drop the bullshit Emily. If removing the charm renders the item ineffective, then not even you can get around it. You won't mess with temperal magic that deeply. What did you do, really?"

Delphini watched as her mother huffed in annoyance. "I didn't remove the charm, you are right. I altered it. Extended it to twenty-four hours."

"Why? And why do you even have a time turner in the first place?"

All of a sudden, the atmosphere turned tense. Delphini finally saw the anger she had always heard others talk about when they spoke of her mother. Something she had never been privy to as a child. Sure, her mother had gotten cross with her, but she had never seen such a cold reaction from her before. At least, not that she could remember.

"Some things, Harry, you don't need to know." Emily's voice was flat and icy, and the two other people in the room knew she wouldn't answer the question. One occupant refused to back down,

"The hell I don't. What do you need a time turner for?"

"Nothing. I once did, but things changed and I didn't make use of it. End of story."

"No, its not. What were you planning?" Her father wasn't going to let this go.

"Harry, I'm not a good person. All you need to know is that I didn't do what I had planned on doing. Please, drop this. Please."

* * *

Emily never thought the day would come where she would beg for something. She had told Harry every moment of her life until they met again when he was fourteen. But there was a breif period she didn't tell him about. The three or so months in between her revival and their time together at Hogwarts. She had told him about killing a handful of muggles but that had been all of it. She hadn't even gone into detail about it. How she imperiused them to kill each other before she broke the last one's neck. It had all been part of a terrible twisted desire she had developed to imprison Harry and abuse him. Torture him.

Those disgusting desires she had back then where so warped from the desires she held now. She had wanted to indulge in his pain, become his master and make him subservient to her. Even if it was only for a few days. That was why she had extended the limit on the time turner. To have more time in which she could satisfy her revolting cravings. Thankfully he had brought those horrible plans of hers down when he had confessed to liking her. And when he had, she had opened their connection to his emotions and she felt how beautiful his love was for her, even at such an early stage. His words changed what originally was her desire for control over him into a desire for his affection. For his love. And she finally had that. He had married her and was happy with her.

She would never tell him what she had once wanted.

She couldn't. It was unspeakable. It may very well change the basis of what they were together. He was so certain that though she was a terrible woman, she had enough goodness to deserve his love. She knew better, and if she spoke of her darkest moments to him, then he would too.

So she begged. And he finally relented.

"Okay. I believe you." His voice was no longer demanding. It was soft and mellow, soothing. "You never used it. And whatever you needed it for, wasn't that important. I'm sorry for pushing you."

She closed her eyes. Crisis averted. Hopefully this wouldn't crop up again in the future. She could now focus on the other predicament.

"Now, Delphini, please tell me what I told you."

"You just told me to go back inside, that things had not been resolved. I questioned you on the time turner you had, but you told me it wasn't important. You looked unhappy that I brought it up, but I guess that's obvious now. We hugged and you told me that you had initially missed something in our last conversation and you figured it out afterwards."

This struck a nerve, why didn't she just tell her daughter what she had missed and skipped over the process of figuring it out. Unless, in the process of figuring it out, she learned even more. Regardless, there was a simple way to figure everything out.

"Harry, be a dear and go to muggle London for me. I need you to pick up a few things."

He groaned. "Wouldn't it be more inconspicuous if you went?"

"Doubtfully as I am not a muggle, but regardless I don't care about being inconspicuous, Harry. I need a few things for a little side project, and despite my age, you are far more familiar with the muggle world."

"Okay, what do you need and what's the side project?"

"I'm going to construct a pensieve. Not a legitimate one, mind you, my craftsmanship isn't up to that level. But I can make a rudimentary replica that will handle the basic features. Like reviewing our previous conversation with Delphini here word for word and maybe even delving into her memories of the events in the future."

"Oh, don't one of your followers have one you can borrow or something?"

"I'm sure they do, however, I wish to keep all of this quiet. Just go get me some granite and a dozen bottles of hydroxyl alcohol."

"Hydro-what?"

"Rubbing aclohol will do. Its a common enough muggle item. Get me a dozen bottles of it. Enough to fill a pensieve of a similar size to tbe one you've seen in the past."

Harry just nodded and grabbed his coat and made to leave. Before he made it to the door she shouted out, "I need actual Granite love, not some knock off, so be certain you get the real thing."

Harry raised his hand to his head in a mock salute before telling her, "Be back soon." When the sound of the door closing echoed through the house Emily motioned for her daughter to sit.

"Now that your father isn't here, is there anything that you feel you need to tell me? Something that you didn't wish to say before?"

Delphini looked at her mother and shook her head. "No. I've told you both everything, already."

Emily frowned. "I had hoped you were hiding some details from him. Oh well, I still need to construct the pensieve regardless, so its just as well that he is gone. So, tell me some of the theory's you have about my disappearance, Delphini. Do you still believe as you have that I am dead?"

Her daughter looked down, contemplating her answer. "I don't think dad killed you anymore, no, but I also can't believe he destroyed your body and put you somewhere else, mum. Dad... he changed, when you disappeared. He isn't the same father I had without you. He's always angry. He yells. Not at me, mind you, but he slips up sometimes and does it in front of me. He was never so angry when I was younger. I think if you were still there, in some form, he wouldn't have changed so drastically."

Emily sank into her chair. "Your father has a temper. I've seen it before. He and I have exchanged physical blows in the past, completely my fault of course. He is truly blameless for those outbursts, and I would never hold it against him. I am not, the easiest person to be with. As I said earlier, Delphini, I am not a good person, despite the fact I may have been a good mother. Tell me, what do you know of me?"

"Well you're the youngest Minister of M-"

"Never mind details of the future, but I do like knowing that little tidbit. I mean before your birth."

"Well, I know you met dad at school. I know you two fought a lot, but dad says eventually he realized he couldn't live without you. I know that he was in danger of dying to a dark witch, but you saved him on multiple occasions."

"Hm, so you know nothing, pretty much."

Delphini looked indignant. "I know you loved us very much. I know that despite what you think, you are a great person, mother. The best. Nothing could ever convince me otherwise."

"Even if I told you I murdered your father's family?"

Delphini's eyes widened. "Dad's parents died when he was a baby, there's no way you could have been responsible for that."

Emily now wore a sad smile. "You're more than old enough now to know the truth Delphini. I was born on December 31st, 1926. I am decades older than your father. I am also the dark witch known as Voldemort."

Delphini's face turned red as she once again started to lose her temper. Her voice shook as her octaves rose. "No, you're lying to me. Why are you LYING TO ME?!"

Emily simply turned her head away from her daughter and quietly asked for her to sit down. It took almost a full minute, but eventually her daughter complied with her request.

"I love your father very much, Delphini, just as I am certain I will love you in a similar capacity. But that love does not erase the person that I am. I once murdered over a hundred people in the span of a few minutes just to keep your father alive after I foolishly almost killed him. I don't regret the action even the tiniest bit, though it is something your father will never forgive me for."

She watched as her daughter's anger faded into grief. Soon the girl was crying. "Why? You're not... You're not that person."

"And by the time you're born, I may not be. Maybe motherhood changes me. Makes me into a good person, who is to know. I hear becoming a parent changes some people at their very core, and its possible that you are the cornerstone that sparks that change within me. But make no mistake, in the here and now, I am not the wonderful person you think I am."

Her daughter sniffled. She began to frantically dry her face with her robes, before asking, "Why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because in the event that we can not change the future, Delphini, you need to know that if your father did kill me, he probably had good reason to. I am NOT," She emphasized the word heavily, "saying that Harry did such a thing, but in the unlikelihood that he did, it was not some horrific act against me."

The room grew quiet, the only sound being an occasional sob from Delphini. "I don't want you to look at your father as though he is a bad man, Delphini. He is probably the most kindhearted man I have ever met. He is disgustingly, inherently good. So much that, I have become far less a monster than I used to be simply to be with him. It is the only way he can accepted me."

Delphini just nodded her head, not speaking. The conversation fell flat for several minutes until they heard the door opening as Harry returned.

"I thought the granite would be the easy part to procure, but I was sorely mistaken. Had to go to a home improvement store and buy it. Sorry it took so long."

"Its fine, love, thank you for getting me what I asked for. Just bring it all in here."

Harry walked into the room and all but dropped the materials when he saw Delphini's face. He rushed over to the girl, quickly dropping his face down to hers, Emily assumed, to more clearly see her tear stained face. While gently wiping at his daughter's face, he turned to Emily and asked rather cooly, "What did you do?"

Emily met his eyes, "I cleared somethings up about my past that I thought our daughter may not be aware of."

Harry's mouth dropped open. "Why the hell would you do that, Enily? Do you think that maybe, we didn't tell her those things for a reason? That we didn't want her knowing any of that."

Emily nodded to him. "Of course, but if we are going to figure out my disappearance we need to share everything."

Harry turned away from her, muttering, "Coming from the woman who refuses to spill certain secrets."

Emily didn't respond to his barb, clearly he was still rather annoyed by that. "Now that she is aware of my past, maybe she can shed more light on certain things."

"Well I bloody hell hope not. She better not be aware of anything like that seeing as she was only seven at the time."

"One can never be certain. Leave me alone for a moment while I construct this penseive. It won't last for longer than a day. The granite isn't very pourous, but it is somewhat absorbant and the alcohol won't last too long in the bowl I fashion even with certain spells to keep it in place."

She got busy, trying very hard to ignore the whispered placations she heard her husband giving their daughter behind her back. While she understood his horror, Emily always made plans for every scenario. And in case she was not able to be recovered in the future, she had to make certain her daughter no longer blamed Harry. She would make certain that they had each other's support.

Soon enough, the pensieve was ready and she turned to the two of them, while extracting the memory of their last conversation and placing it into the bowl.

"Let's figure out just what I meant when I said I missed something earlier."


	4. Chapter 4

**IMPORTANT: I have deleted chapter 2, the 'Hiatus notice'. There are officially four chapters. Make sure you don't get confused.**

A/N: We stay JKR cannon here and not Cursed Child cannon, which conflict with each other as far as time travel theory goes.

Chapter 4

Emily rose up from the memory with a smile on her face. Her daughter and her husband both looked at her hoping she had actually noticed something, because neither of them had caught onto anything.

"I did miss something. How obtuse of me."

Harry was impatient, "You're more than welcome to share with the rest of us. I didn't notice a thing."

"It was subtle. Delphini quoted you, saying 'She was never going to come back. She couldn't come back. Not again.'"

All of a sudden things seemed to click together in her husband's mind. "You're horcruxes. I must have meant them. So, that means you're... that means you're really gone."

Emily watched as her husband all but collapsed on the couch, looking defeated. "I killed you. Why?"

"I am still not convinced I am dead, so don't go off the deep end just yet, Harry."

"How can you be so certain?"

Emily looked at him as though he had become simple. "Because you love me."

He closed his eyes, then nodded and opened them again. "You're right, we can't just assume that. What would be a dead give away that you're alive?"

"Rather simple, I hope so, anyway. This ring," She held up her hand showing the engagement ring he had given her. "This is your horcrux. My final horcrux will be your wedding ring."

"Oh, I kind of expected you to choose your own wedding ring." The two of them turned their eyes to Delphini and Emily asked her, "Does your father still have his wedding ring?"

The young woman was quiet, before whispering, "No. He doesn't."

"Fuck." Harry once again slumped down on the couch.

"Don't sound so defeated, Harry. Its still not enough to convince me."

"Oh come on, Emily. How much more proof do you need? Let be realistic, we've got a smoking gun with my prints all over it."

"I doubt you killed me with a muggle firearm, Harry."

Harry groaned, rubbing his now closed eyes. "Its an expression, Emily."

"Whatever, we still have one final avenue to explore."

Harry gave a short laugh, "Oh? And what, pray tell, is the last thing we need to look at."

"Delphini's memory of the night I died."

"What's the point of watching me break down after killing my wife and trying to find peace in hugging my daughter?"

"I have a hunch."

Harry took a deep breath and opened his eyes. "Well if there is one thing that you and Dumbledore had in common, it was the fact that your hunches normally turned out to be correct."

"Really? I recall you telling me often how my ideas were crazy and long past paranoia."

"Well your ideas are. But your hunches are another matter. Its when your hunches make a few laps around your brain and become ideas, that I start doubting them."

Emily laughed at him. "I suppose I should find that insulting, but it's honestly just amusing."

Emily turned to their daughter, "Have you ever pulled a memory from your head before?"

Delphini laughed. "No, mother, I've never had a reason to. What do I need to do?"

"Just focus on that time, on that memory, and I'll do the rest."

Emily placed her wand to Delphini's temple and soon enough, a silver glow emanated from her temple. Emily quickly, but gently, extracted the memory and placed it inside the make shift penseive.

"Let's go." The three of them disappeared into the bowl.

Their feet landed lightly on the stone floor of the Malfoy Manor. They stood inside the dining hall. Delphini was present with her Uncle Draco, but Lucius and Narcissa were also present. The memory Delphini looked pale and ill tempered. It was clearly very late at night. They didn't have long to view the scene as it was only moments later that an older Harry Potter entered the room.

It was quite clear that he had been through a great deal. His clothes were barely more than rags, and they were smeared and caked in mud and clay. His hair was in a similar state that his clothes were and the matted locks made him look more subdued than his normal wild strands did. He made his way to his daughter and they watch as the young girl rose up unsteadily and tore across the room to fling herself into her father's arms. Several times she almost fell. The three Malfoys exchanged glances, but none of them said a word about the man's disheveled appearance. The only sounds came from the two people embracing in the middle of the room. There were only a few seconds of silence before the memory Harry began sobbing, great heaving sobs. He kept whispering that he was sorry, so sorry to his daughter and it was clear she didn't understand what was going on.

"Daddy, where's mother?"

But the memory Harry only sobbed harder and continued apologizing over and over and soon the memory faded out.

As the three of them return to the Potter residence, Harry once again sat down with a slump. "Not really a lot to glean from that."

Emily look at him and sighed, cleary over his defeated attitude. "I swear Harry, if you don't drop the personal pity party I'm going to shove my wand ten inches up your arse, and I can assure you that this time, the intrusion won't be a playful experiment."

"Mum, that's disgusting! I don't need to hear things like that!"

This time Emily actually did look rather contrite. Looking to her daughter, she said, "Sorry dear, but it seems your father didn't notice what I did." Turning her face to her husband. "You clearly weren't being perceptive Harry, as your wedding ring was sitting on your finger plain as day."

Harry didn't react in the way she had expected. "So? I didn't have it on in the future though. I probably destroyed it later."

Emily temper rose sharply. "Stop being a martyr, Harry."

"I'm not be-"

"QUIET!" Emily practically screeched at him. He shut up, and his face paled. Emily had never screamed at him that way, not since she realized her connection to him. "You listen to me, Harry Potter, and you listen well. You _are _being a martyr, you're taking all the blame of this entire fiasco and trying to shoulder it alone. Drop the bleeding heart and the hero complex and focus with me, damn it. Now why would you obviously not keep the ring intact before you killed me?"

Harry could tell that Emily had put her foot down with him and she had most definitely done it explosively. He sat up straight and began to think about what she had told him. It didn't take him long to figure it out.

"You're right, I'd destroy the ring first, so that when I killed you, you would immediately die. If I gave you time in between you could attach your soul to a host like Professor Quirrell or a snake like Nagini."

"Thank you for being sensible today." Emily walked towards her husband and sat on his lap, touching her forehead to his. "I know its been a trying night, goodness knows we only got married this morning and its nearing midnight now. Let's do some brainstorming on this latest memory and then call it a night. I need your mind operating at its best right now." Lowering her voice so her daughter did not overhear, "Silence our room when I take Delphini to the guest room." Her daughter could try as hard as she might to channel the late Albus Dumbledore's ability to ruin her sex life, but Emily was tired of the constant teases she was getting tonight. She was going to have a proper wedding night.

Harry gave a soft chuckle and nodded lightly. Emily pulled herself away from him and sat herself beside him. Delphini was already seated on an armchair. "So we can now officially conclude that Harry did not intentionally kill me."

Her statement immediately caused Harry to interrupt her. "Hold on a tic, what do you mean intentionally? So your saying I could have, what, accidentally killed you?"

"Of course. That's always been the most likely scenario. I knew you wouldn't murder me love, but accidents do happen, after all."

He stared at her incredulously, "And how exactly am I going to accidentally kill you? Because God knows people have been trying to do it on purpose for decades."

Emily laughed at him. "True, and to be honest, I don't think you did. I think what happens in the future is obvious. You and I go out to do something rather dangerous. You wind up in a perilous situation and I sacrifice myself to save you. There are some magicks, ancient magicks, that are so vile they destroy the soul. Dementors aren't the only things that can directly influence a soul, you know. After all, why would I sacrifice myself to save you if I could just use your horcrux to bring you back? Most likely that is the situation we find ourselves in, in the future. It's why you blame yourself. It's why you said I can't come back. Because there is nothing left that can return."

Harry sat silently for a long time, contemplating his wife's words. "What about the final horcrux? If your soul was destroyed, why would I not use the last horcrux and try and create a new you? Like you did with Voldemort?"

"Odds are you did," Emily gave him a sad smile. "And odds are that you failed. That's why you no longer have the ring in Delphini's memory."

Harry gave a hollow laugh. There was no note of happiness in it. "So I drag you down once more. Its just like Egypt all over again, except this time I lose you."

"No, Egypt was my fault. I took you knowing the danger. I sealed you in the coffin. I alone am responsible for the loss of life there. Not you. Never blame yourself for that."

"How can I not? The things you did, you did for me."

"I did nothing for you that night, Harry. I did all that I did for me. For my selfish desire to keep you with me."

Harry stayed silent for a time, before looking at Emily and asking, "Shouldn't you go back in time and tell Delphini now? Is there really any point in waiting any longer?"

Emily mused for a moment before shaking her head. "No, because I'm still missing something."

"What do you mean?"

Emily didn't answer his question, instead turning to her daughter she asked, "Isn't that right, Delphini?"

Her daughter looked to the floor, clearly not wanting to speak. Emily pushed a little harder. "Relax Delphini, all I am asking is if I told you something else. Something that I told you not to reveal until we had already figured it out. I'm not telling you to tell me what it is."

Delphini still refused to speak, but she nodded her head twice.

Emily smiled, "No, there is still a final missing puzzle piece. Something we have yet to figure out."

There was silence for a long time before Delphini finally spoke.

"So, what now? Now that we know the danger, do you two just not do dangerous things when I hit a certain age? Everything in the future is now fixed. With the foreknowledge you have, everything should be fine, right?"

"No." Harry gave a long sigh. "That's not how it works Delphini. This is something I've been mulling over in my head the entire time, but I've figured it out now. The timeline can't change. We can't do anything for your mother."

Upon hearing her father's word, Delphini gave a strangled cry, and buried her head in her hand as she shook violently with sobs. Emily once again felt the powerful pull to comfort her daughter, but this time, Harry had beaten her to it. He had already been in motion, knowing the effect his words would have on the girl. He got up and then sat next to Delphini and gently pulled her to him. She clung to him desperately sobbing all the more.

"I've used a time turner before. The timeline can't be changed because the past has already happened. I was being attacked by dementor's but my future self was already there to save me. Buckbeak never died, because we had already saved him. Same with Sirius. The timeline has already passed us by. Traveling to the past can't change something, because you're visit here was already set in stone. As is what's going to happen. You can't alter your past from our present either."

Emily listened quietly until Harry was finished. "So are you saying there is nothing we can do?"

Harry smiled at his wife. "Nothing about the past, hers or ours. But if we are capable of anything, it will be in changing her future."

Emily stared at him. "I don't see how that will fix anything Harry, not with my being gone."

"I doubt you're gone, though." Harry's smile stayed on his face.

"Why do you believe that?"

"I would never let you sacrifice yourself for me. I love you too much. I'd have died there with you before allowing you to die alone. I wouldn't be able to let you face your greatest fear by yourself."

Emily smiled back at him. "While your reasoning is rather beautiful, I'd like to point out the single flaw in your argument." She lifted a single finger and pointed it at the girl clinging to him. "You would leave our daughter alone? Without a family as you grew up?"

"No, but she clearly wouldn't be alone. Not like I was. Do you remember how she referred to Draco? Her uncle? They clearly treat her well, well enough that I would agree to go on some crazy, dangerous adventure with you in the first place. Lets be honest, we wouldn't have made that decision if we didn't already have a contingency plan in place for her."

"Would we not? If it were important enough?"

"I suppose we would, but at the same time, what else could possibly be more important than her life or yours to me? If I was certain that she would still have a good and happy life without us, then I would prioritize you first."

Emily sighed, "While all of this conjecture is rather sweet and even heartbreaking, it doesn't get us to the crux of how you think we can help our daughter."

"Sure it does. And its the last piece you need to know before you go off on your own bit of time travel."

Emily stared at him. "You complain when I leave you in suspense, and yet here you are, doing the same thing to me."

Harry laughed at her, as Delphini finally tried to compose herself. "I'm willing to bet the last thing you told Delphini about was something to do with a final clue."

Emily, for the second time that night, looked at him as though he had become simple. She wasn't able to rebuke him before her daughter cut in. "Yes, that's what mum said. She said that you found the final clue."

Emily let out a groan of frustration. "Delphini, you weren't supposed to say that until we actually found it. Now what if we- Of course. We found it already, so if Harry is correct we'll find it again. The timeline can't change."

Harry nodded. "And if that is true then I am willing to wager my entire vault in Gringotts that the me from the future sent a message with Delphini to the past. Because I will remember her coming here in the first place, with the message I had already sent."

Emily balked at his words. "Is this not some weird self fulfilling prophecy?"

Harry laughed, "I suppose it is. If it were a prophecy. But its time travel, which is infinitely simpler." He turned to face his daughter and asked her, "Did I ever give you a keepsake? Something I told you to never leave lying around. Something I told you to carry with you always?"

Delphini nodded, extracting herself from her father. She reached into the top of her blouse and pulled out a thin silver chain. Attached to the chain was a large locket adorned with an ornate Slytherin S. "I've never been able to open it, I even tried Parseltongue."

Harry smiled at her. "I probably set it with a password. I've only ever known one password in Parseltongue, and seeing as it has the Slytherin S on it, I'm pretty certain as to what it is."

"_Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four."_

With a light snap, the locket opened. And inside of it rested a simple wedding band, along with a silver memory.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Got a nasty bit of flu, so I took a sick day and figured I'd write. so I finished this up and did one more.

Chapter 5

The three occupants in the room all stared at the final clue for a moment, before Emily started to laugh. It was on the verge of a cackle. She suddenly wrapped her arms tight around her husband, "Brilliant. I told you I needed that head of yours working at full capacity."

Emily planted a large kiss on the side of Harry's head, before gently closing the locket and handing it back to her daughter. "Its late. We've been at this for hours. Lets go to bed, and continue this in the morning. I assume there is no urgent need for you to return to the future?"

Delphini shook her head. "No, the device I have lets me travel to and from my present at my will."

Emily's eyebrows rose. "Powerful item. Make sure you give it to your father when you return home. Possessing such an artifact can put you in rather terrible danger."

Delphini smile at her, "Of course, mother."

"Good, lets get you settled in one of the guest rooms."

Once again her daughter smiled at her. "I'll just go to my room, if that's okay?"

Emily was rather shocked to hear this. "You mean to tell me that we raise you in a muggle home?"

Delphini's smile turn soft, "No, not really, but when you disappeared dad and I left the home I grew up in. He said he couldn't stay there. So we moved here. Dad always seemed more comfortable in the muggle world without you."

Emily scoffed, "Well I do suppose he was raised by muggles. So that's not too surprising."

Emily escorted her daughter to her room regardless and left quickly, casting a simple spell as she made her way to her own room. She knew for a fact that if Delphini were going to interrupt it wouldn't be for another hour at least, meaning she had an hour alone with her husband. She was finally going to scratch the itch that had been plaguing her for hours.

Later on, Emily watched as her husband softly breathed in and out in his sleep. He had earned his rest, for it had been a long day for him. She however, could go without sleep as she knew she had to depart soon and was waiting for the moment to do so. The small golden hourglass in her hands reflected the small amount of moonlight that shone through the window. Finally, she felt the small ward outside her bedroom door break away and she quickly turned the hour glass eight times, to go back eight hours.

The room began spinning in her view and then, suddenly, the light of day shone on her face. Emily had finally taken her first trip through time. Quickly she rose from the bed, and made her way outside. She and Harry were due to arrive home from their wedding at any moment. She knew she would have to remain hidden, and there was only one item that would allow her to do so from herself successfully. Harry's invisibility cloak. Only it could hide her from her ability to sense magic. Fortunately, she had already swiped the item from her husband in the future and had in within her possession now.

Her skin crawled uncomfortably. It didn't take long for her to notice the reason why. Her entire body was covered in a red painful rash. She hadn't realized it at first because she had a remarkably high pain tolerance and she had not been paying it any mind, due to her rush to make it outside.

"My magical body must have adverse side effects to time travel. Perhaps the powerful charms that move a person through the time stream are similar to the magicks in ritual magic. That is... unfortunate." The last thing she desired to see was what would happen should her body dissolve during a temporal trip. Would her soul be deposited at some random point in time? Would it be lost forever in a sea of nothingness, stranded outside of time itself? Perhaps, at one point in the future, she was forced to travel through time and that was the entire reason she vanished from existence. Could her disappearance in the future be tied to this tiny trinket that was wrapped around her wrist?

Of course, for all she knew, this was the exact reason that time turners had a five hour limit on them. Maybe her body was completely fine and no one could travel further into the past without such results. Maybe that was why it took her daughter so many years to travel back, because a safer way to travel had not been discovered. There were so many unknowns and no way to find out answers. The secrets of time travel, or rather, all of the secrets in the department of mysteries, were more heavily guarded than the minister himself. Stealing a prophecy was child's play in light of attempting to break into that department's archives.

Such ruminations would remain unsolved, regardless. She would not be making another trip ever again. This was a one time deal.

Wrapped safely in her husband's family heirloom, she gazed at the front of her house patiently, until a barely younger version of herself and Harry Potter appeared at the doorstep. The two of them were so wrapped up in one another that Emily almost wondered if the cloak had been a bit too cautious. Possibly the most horrible part of this entire trip however, was watching her husband look at someone other than her, with such longing. Well, it was her, but it wasn't the present her, or would it have been the past her? In either case, she had to squash the burning envy she felt as she stared at herself. Fortunately, the scene lasted only a few seconds before the two of them were inside the house.

Emily didn't realize she would feel such intense dislike for her past self. She waited most impatiently for her daughter to hurry and interrupt their activities. She could feel her husband's growing desire, though it felt weaker, as though instead of her being able to enter his mind, she was able to funnel what he felt away from the connection to the other her. Strange.

After what seemed like an age, but was only a few seconds longer her daughter appeared with a crack. Another odd occurrence. Clearly her daughter had arrived via apparition, and not time travel, so what had she already been doing here. She hadn't thought the time travel would leave her with more questions than answers.

However her daughter made no moves to knock, and Emily could feel Harry's desire growing. She wanted her daughter to get a move on, and interrupt them before she damn near blew a gasket. When it was obvious that the girl wasn't going to knock on the door any time soon, Emily lost her patience and cast a compulsion charm on the girl. She kept the magic subtle, the child wouldn't notice. The compulsion charm, though subtle, had more force on it than she probably intended as she watched her daughter all but hammer on the door. That would explain how the two of them had heard the noise over their activities in the bedroom in any case.

She heard the door opening, followed by the strangled cry and her daughter's leap a few moments later. Once the girl was actually inside the house, Emily made her way to sit by the side of the front door to wait. While waiting she came to the realization that it was not her daughter who had kept interrupting her private time with Harry, but it was, rather, herself. She had detested the idea of anyone touching Harry that she even interfered with her past self. It was something she'd have to get over, of course, seeing as she most definitely succeeded in getting him all to herself tonight. She knew she had succeeded there because she had already planned to be hiding in Delphini's room when she left her daughter there later. The two would spend some quality time together, and then Emily would make her way back to her room, tripping the ward she had placed to let herself know the timing was right to leave.

After waiting a long two hours in which she idled away watching the clouds, she finally heard approaching footsteps from inside the house. She would have to move fast. Harry looked out the window only seconds after her daughter closed the door so, Emily would have to throw the cloak over her as soon as the door was still.

Emily watched as the silver haired youth walked out of the door and for the briefest of moments, she paused. Delphini was a child still, and in truth, her husband wasn't much different. And it was her actions and decisions that made the two most important people in her life suffer. In a single quick motion, she shrouded her daughter with her in the cloak, aware that their feet and probably some of their legs were showing, but Harry wouldn't be able to see that from his vantage point at the window.

"Mum!"

Emily smiled at her daughter's bewildered look. "Your not the only one capable of time travel, dear."

Delphini hugged her mother underneath the cloak, and Emily soaked in her daughter's presence. She couldn't dally long, she still wasn't happy with what her husband and herself were about to get up to. "Sorry, sweetheart, but I'm afraid you can't go to the future just yet. Things haven't come to a close here yet."

"How did you travel to the past, Mum? You've always been against time travel."

Emily grimaced. She never knew that keeping a hold of that time turner would cause such scrutiny. "Never you mind that. You need to go back and tell me and your father that I missed a small detail in our conversation on my disappearance."

"What detail? Why not just tell me what it is?"

Emily softly laughed at her daughter. "You'll know soon enough. There is much you will come to understand before you lay your head to rest tonight."

"Okay, I... I guess I'll see you soon?"

"Of course, I'm right in there, after all. There is one more thing I must tell you, and I'm sorry, but its a rather vague something. There is a final clue. I will tell you no more than that. You must not reveal that to anyone until someone mentions it first, do you understand?"

"Of course. I won't mention it until then, I promise."

Emily smiled. "Excellent, you're a good girl. I'll see you very soon. Now be a dear and march right back into that house and interrupt me, I'm about to do something vexing."

Delphini returned her mother's smile, "You can count on me, mum. I'll prevent it, and everything else that will happen. Together we'll figure everything out. You, me and dad, we're the best team for it."

Emily knew now why her daughter had burst into tears when she heard her father say the future couldn't be changed. Her daughter thought it could be done. She even thought that she was about to do it now. But her daughter was simply waltzing to a tune that had already been played. There would be no altercations.

Emily waited another few hours before her husband left to run the errands she sent him on. When he opened the door she slipped through and made her way to what would become her daughter's room. It would be here that she would wait for Delphini and for the first time, do something she didn't know the outcome of. What would they speak of, what would they do?

Eventually her past grew ever closer to her present as she heard the door to the room open and the petite figure of her daughter entered the room. Though she had planned to reveal herself, she found herself holding back, just observing the girl. Delphini quietly shut the door, before doing a rather giddy, happy dance that Emily found herself smiling wryly at.

"I can't believe mum is right here. It's been so long."

The silver haired teen made her way to the bed and sat down on it. "What am I going to do?" As the girl dropped her head into her hands, the sudden change from giddiness to depression caught Emily by surprise as she kept watching her daughter. "How can I fix this, if the future is already set in stone?"

In the end, Emily did not reveal herself and stayed silently with her daughter as the girl settled into bed for a fitful night's sleep. Though she did wish to comfort the girl, she didn't have the answers Delphini needed. Soon enough she felt as though the moment where she leapt through time had come and she made her way to her room, knowing that her past self was waiting to depart.

Perhaps, things would be solved by her husband's future self. For all she knew, Harry had already found the answers and they all lay waiting inside that locket. For now, she could only rest until morning and they would continue moving forward.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Harry, wake up love."

Harry was gently roused from sleep by a soft voice and gentle nudges. He groggily opened his eyes and saw his wife's smiling face in front of him.

"Delphini? Is she okay?" His morning voice was gruff from sleep. The first thing to cross his mind that day was the well being of his new daughter, and he was relieved when Emily nodded.

"Normally I'd have let you sleep longer, but I do want to get an early start on this."

Harry shifted about, before raising himself to a sitting position. "Right, the memory."

He blinked a few times gathering his wits. "Did everything go alright, with the time travel?"

He watched her nod, but her smile was now forced, he could see her muscles straining. "What did you find out?"

She dropped the forced happy grin and only gave him a lopsided smirk. "It seems you were right about the future. When I traveled backwards, I interfered more than I had expected, but at the same time, just enough to keep things the same. Tell me, Harry, what do you think would have happened should I have forced a change? Say if I had stormed in here while we were having sex last night in a jealous fit?"

"Er, well probably a really awkward fight... or an even more awkward threesome."

She narrowed her eyes at him and all he did was shrug his shoulders. He had no idea what she would have done in all honesty, though he did find it funny she was jealous of herself.

"You are such a male."

Harry gave a bark of laughter. "Coming from you, the horn-dog who wanted to seduce me when I was fourteen. Forgive me if I fail to take your insult to heart."

He finally succeeded in getting a laugh out of her. She looked at him still smiling, "In all seriousness, however, who is to say what is impossible or otherwise? I could have very easily changed things last night should I have decided to. Wouldn't this prove your theory wrong? Things remained the same, not for some higher power, but because of my choice."

Harry was quiet at this. Of course, he was only seventeen. He didn't have much information on time travel. Surely, if one wanted to change the timeline, no force could stop sheer will power. If Emily had been bound and determined, she could have very easily changed last night. But if she had, then it would stand to reason that he would've remembered it and time wouldn't really have changed at all.

"Emily, I don't think its a matter of changing time like that. If you were to decide to make a change, then you would make it in the present."

She scoffed at him. "Of course, I would."

"Er, I don't think you understood. I mean if you were to time travel tomorrow, back to today, and change something, we would see it today. Keeping the timeline intact."

"And what if I resolved to not travel to the past tomorrow to make my appearance today after I have already shown up? If I chose last night not to travel to the past, what would have happened?"

Harry sighed in frustration, "Emily, you're five decades my senior and you have just as much experience with time travel as I do. Which, might I remind you, is a single trip. Stop asking a teenager for answers to questions no one knows."

Emily pouted, but sighed deeply. "You're right. Of course you are."

Harry watched as she got up to leave before he was hit with an epiphany. "Wait!"

She turned to face him, with an eyebrow quirked, "Yes?"

"If you decided to change the past, you would have done it through the present. I know you would have. We'd have remembered... which means... there was a reason you had to disappear."

She gave him an odd look, "I don't quite follow."

"Simple, the only thing we can change is the present and future. If you had made changes to fix things, then you or I would have already done so in Delphini's past and we wouldn't be figuring out this mess now. That means that your disappearance... needed to happen."

Harry saw Emily purse her lips, "I suppose, if we are taking your theory as gospel, anyway, that you're correct." They both stayed silent for a while, before Emily spoke again, "Further speculation is pointless. Let's see this memory and we'll know if you are right or not."

Harry just nodded and got out of bed as she left the room. She was right, she normally was. As long as she was being rational anyway. He made his way downstairs after a hot shower and a change of clothes to see his daughter and wife already seated at the table, eating breakfast.

"You cook?" He asked this question to Delphini, already knowing that Emily had little skill in the area.

"You taught me yourself. First criteria of being self sufficient, you always said, was being able to feed yourself." Delphini spoke proudly, and Harry couldn't help looking at Emily. It was a forgone argument that they had gone through in the past when she constantly asked Harry to cook for her, and he mentioned that one day she should return the favor. The next day she had taken him to a rather fancy magical restaurant, commenting that he should appreciate her attempts in feeding him. He asked her if she'd be happy if he started taking her out to eat, and when she replied that she liked it when he cooked for her physically, she came to the realization what he had actually meant.

Needless to say, she told him it would never happen. "If you want me to feed you, I will take you out."

"I'm starting to feel under appreciated here."

She gave him a cool look. "Nonsense, you know I appreciate you more than anyone else alive."

"You wouldn't even make me a sandwich, would you?"

Emily shrugged her shoulders, "If it was something like that, I wouldn't even have to leave the living room. I could use magic from the sofa and have in front of you in seconds."

Harry had given up on the argument soon after. Some things weren't worth the time. It was good to know that his daughter knew at least a few basic life skills.

Harry ate the food that was laid out for him and as a group they made their way to the makeshift pensieve Emily had constructed the day before. The alcohol in the bowl was gone, and Harry replicated the remaining bottles to refill it. In the meantime, Emily extracted the memory from the locket and held it from the tip of her wand.

"Well then, lets find out what you have found out, Harry." Emily said. "And if I find that you have let yourself go in the future I will be very cross with you. I have no intention of being married to a slob."

Harry looked at her, mouth gaping. "Where did that even come from?"

Emily leveled him a look, "Does it matter? I'm telling you now, before we see the memory, before the so-called 'present' is set in stone, to make sure it doesn't happen."

"Er, okay."

Emily grabbed onto his hand, only giving him a split second to latch onto Delphini's as she plunged her wand into the bowl and they were lurched forward.

"Wow, it feels so weird, talking to myself. A talk I've already seen, already memorized. Doing it again, so I can fix what went wrong. I'll give you all a couple moments to get your bearings, I remember we needed a second to orient ourselves."

Emily, Harry and Delphini all paused awkwardly, as they were in the exact same room that they had left. Eventually they all turned around to see a second Harry.

"Oh no, Harry." Emily whispered.

The years hadn't been kind to Harry Potter. His face was drawn and the bags under his eyes were very pronounced and dark. He looked about a stone lighter than he did now. He was sickly and frail looking, and that was looking at him in a positive light.

"Sorry, love, about my appearance. But, on the bright side, I didn't become a slob, right?" The older Harry gave a soft chuckle. Indeed, he was impeccably dressed and well groomed, it was only the fact that he seemed terminally ill that ruined his look.

"Don't worry about me. Once we get you back, I'll pull it together, I promise. I have missed you... so much." A single tear made its way down the memory Harry's cheek and he choked on his words, only once.

"Turns out, I was right, by the way. You had to vanish. It turns out, that our happiness came with a price."

None of them viewing the memory said a word, listening intently to the man telling them about the future.

"We had everything. But we wanted more. And how could we not, when we had already seen how incredible more could be. We wanted you, Delphini." As if the man knew exactly where they were he locked his eyes onto his daughter. "I've been very busy, working on this. For almost a decade, I've toiled onwards with the Department of Mysteries for a cure. For a way to bring us back together again."

"Emily," Once again the memory locked his eyes onto the new person it addressed. "Turns out that you made a mistake. Your magical body, as magnificent as it is, can't produce a child with me. Because you used my aunt's flesh to remake your body, our DNA, produced complications with each pregnancy causing them to fail very early. Of course, we already knew that would happen, thanks to this memory. but we decided not to have children until the Voldemort issue settled down."

"You don't really know much about muggle science, but when DNA gets muddled together, things stop working properly, as far as reproduction goes. That and your body's general resilience, which didn't foster a good environment for pregnancy, meant we found out we couldn't have children together, which meant, we couldn't have Delphini. At first you wanted to change your body's make up, but it failed. Turns out, after you stabilized your new body with only pieces of you, myself, and our families your body's composition lost its flexibility. Turns out the key to your ability to change it was the diversity of it's make-up, and with our connection, you lost it."

"So you started looking for another way. And you found one, though you never told me what it was. I didn't ask, because you said I wouldn't want to know. I was willing to remain ignorant as long as we could finally conceive. Bear in mind, we still did all of this knowing what the end result would be. We were willing to pay that price. You were finally able to carry Delphini full term, but she was stillborn. We knew we had done it right, she had little tufts of silver hair after all. And you wasted no time in being the incredible woman you are, when you tore apart your final horcrux and used the small piece of soul inside of it to bring her back. Like I said, I don't know how you did it, but it worked. Delphini took her first breath of air."

"Of course, we knew it was only a temporary measure, a stopgap. We knew about your disappearance, and thanks to the memory we are in now, we knew about the danger Delphini was in. We knew that her soul would start to fracture, start to break apart. Her body would weaken, and she would start to die. We had already seen it in Delphini's memory years ago, when she ran into my arms in Malfoy Manor. She kept falling as she ran, barely able to make it to me, even though I had just finished doing what I needed to do to keep her alive. After that day at the Manor, I put my wedding ring inside her locket. The ring that now held my wife's entire soul, not just her horcrux."

The memory Harry sat down into an armchair now. "I still don't know the particulars of everything. You're understanding of soul magic has always outstripped mine. You performed some kind of magic on that ring to stabilize her soul as long as she kept it near her, and as long as you've rested inside it, Delphini has been fine. She's grown up into an incredible girl. But I can't say I was as capable."

His eye's finally made there way to where Harry stood. "She left me alone, she left us alone, for a decade. I know why, and if I had been able to, I'd have made the sacrifice all the same. But it's been so hard, confronting everything without her. To confront my own daughter, with her suspicions that I killed her mother. But what could I say to a seven year old? What could I say to a teenager? When I don't even know if the plan I've made will even work. If all the work I've done these past years ends up failing. Its a kind of fear that can not be eased away."

They watched as the memory sighed deeply. "Delphini's soul should permanently settle when she is of age, seventeen. However, her mother is stuck in that infernal ring for eternity, because the only one who can reverse the charm that put her there, is the one who placed it. I was just the delivery boy that night, Emily. You did the magic. And seeing as you are gone, you can't release yourself. Which is why I'm going to let Delphini go to you in the past. The spell that myself and the department have come up with, that we think will do the trick is '_Privo_' and there are no special wand movements. You know better than I that its the intent that will get it done. You'll need to do same ritual the first time you came back to create her a body. Seeing as you've wiped most everyone's memories, the enemy you'll have to use should probably be Ginny Weasley. If your right and she's actually been in love with me for as long as you say she has, then she's probably still your enemy."

"I've caught you up to date on pretty much everything. Bring back Delphini's mother. Bring back my wife. Please, I've lasted so long on just this brittle hope. But even the smallest chance is a guarantee for Emily to succeed. I know that better than anyone else. After all," At this moment, as everything started to fade the memory Harry raised his head to the ceiling with a smile on his face, "She did make me fall in love with her."

A/N: Not really a murder mystery after all, I guess. But then again, I don't think anyone really thought it was going to be. We're over half way there, now.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Wrapping it up here. I had plans to drag it out a bit, but, realistically it was filler. Cheap filler involving Delphini, a side character who isn't really relevant to the overall plot of the series. This little fic was me stretching my wings outside of the hardcore romance genre. Which I kinda failed at, as romance is pretty strong in here too. But I enjoyed the idea and I enjoyed typing it out.

Chapter 7

"_Privo."_

The ring that was laying flat on the small chair suddenly stood upright on its side. In the same breadth it began to spin and glow. At first the light was dim and the spinning was slow, but the both the brightness of the light and the speed of the revolutions intensified quickly.

"_Depulso."_

The ring was quickly banished into a bubbling cauldron and soon after there was a loud wrenching sound, and...

"Seems that I've been with her all along."

Emily was sitting next to Harry, sipping her coffee. It was a beverage she had only recently began drinking regularly, and she enjoyed it. She preferred it black, of course. Harry had not taken to the drink well and preferred hot chocolate or tea, if he was going to have a hot beverage. Not wanting to make him feel childish, she reigned in her instinctive laugh when he had told her and asked him why hot chocolate held his preference.

"First time I ever had it was at Hogwarts. Guess I'm making up for the times I missed it."

After learning this, she always made certain her borrowed house elf, from the Malfoys, always had one ready for him in the mornings. This morning was no different, but they had ignored their morning ritual in favor of viewing Delphini's memory.

"We did find it hard to believe that you just left us. Honestly, I found it more believable that I was the murderer, before I would believe you abandoned us."

Emily smiled into her drink. "Clearly, you are aware that I love you more than you love me."

Harry smiled back. "Depends on your point of view. Is my love stronger because I chose you, or is yours stronger because there was never any choice at all?"

"Obviously mine is, why even ask the question."

Harry leaned back in his chair, turning his head towards Delphini. His daughter was sitting quietly in the chair in the living room, gently holding the ring up to the sunlight and staring at it. The young girl hadn't said much since they had returned from the memory, and had the majority of her focus on the ring now, knowingly, in her possession.

"I think, that love is all about choice, Emily. For most of us, excluding you, of course, we have to commit to loving someone. We have to parse out whether or not loving them is even possible. And if it is, what we are willing to exchange for it. For you, I had to give up a lot. I had to give up my hatred and anger. It may sound as though it was a good thing when hearing it aloud, and it may have been, but it was difficult. What's more, is I had to accept you for who and what you really are. But the most difficult part, the decision, thankfully, I suppose, was taken out of my hands. In reality, you didn't give me any choice, either."

"Ha, so are you certain that love is still all about choice?"

Harry looked at her face and said, "Everyday I see you, I make the choice to see the best in you. I could choose to see the monster, the Dark Lord, but I choose to see Emily. Its an easy choice, though it wasn't always, and sometimes it still isn't. But I make it nonetheless. So yeah, I do."

Emily sighed, setting down her drink. "Maybe you have a point. I've made choices were you are concerned as well. I chose to win your heart, rather than steal it. I could have put you under a spell, or taken away your will with a potion, but I chose real love. I may have done so for my own selfish reasons, but I did make a choice."

Harry lightly laid his hand on her own. "We've got one more choice to make, and thankfully its another easy one. Lets bring you back."

Emily nodded and got up. Harry began to lead the way to the sitting room, before he heard his wife start to softly laugh. He could tell it was a rather dark laugh too. He didn't even look at her to ask.

"What's tickled you, then?"

"Oh Harry, can you imagine, soon there's going to be three of me running around."

"Ugh, don't even say that."

Gathering the ingredients was simple. The blood of Ginny Weasley was procured quickly enough by a trip to Hogwarts and some subterfuge. Harry transfigured himself into Ron as decently as he could and called out to her in near a secluded corridor. Harry knew his disguise wouldn't stand up to close scrutiny, so he stunned the girl as soon as she rounded the corner. He felt somewhat guilty about removing the single moment from her mind, but consoled himself with the fact that it wasn't tampering on a large scale and he was using a forgetfulness potion. He extracted the blood and revived her, before scurrying off under his invisibility cloak.

Emily went back to the grave of her father for the bones of a relative. As for the flesh of a friend, only Harry qualified. Emily waited a few days until Delphini was finally of age before doing what she strongly didn't want to do. She put him into a deep slumber and did the act cautiously. Every minute of it was nauseating and she was happy when she was done and quick to heal him. She didn't bother waking him until she had the potion ready for the final ingredient. She didn't want him to see the mound of skin and muscle she filleted from his arm. She did it that way so she could heal it quickly with magic, rather than replacing the limb which would have taken a long time. Bones took forever to grow, after all.

When Harry came to, he saw Emily standing over him. "Does your arm hurt anywhere?"

Harry was still very disoriented, but was certain he didn't feel any pain, so he shook his head no.

"Wonderful, everything is ready. Collect your wits and go behind the dining room table."

Harry nodded at her, not really comprehending her words. It wasn't until about a minute later, when he started doing what she asked that he saw their table... turned on its side.

"What are you doing with the table?"

"I've placed an unbreakable charm on it and flipped it to its side. We don't know what kind of reaction the potion will have with the ring, so I felt it best that we remain on the side of caution."

"You think its gonna blow up?"

Emily shrugged, nonchalant. "It's possible."

Harry rolled his eyes before taking his place. As soon as he got close enough he saw Delphini already seated behind it. He gave the girl a small smile, but she didn't return it.

"What's wrong?"

Delphini shrugged. "Mum sent me back here and told me not to look at what she was doing. I didn't listen. It... was really awful."

Harry knew she must've seen what Emily had done to his arm and tried to console her. "Maybe, but I'm right as rain, now. No lasting damage. Nothing to w-"

"_Privo._"

Emily's vision started to return quickly and she quickly made her way to the figure in front of her, listening to its soft words.

"Adequate work, I suppose. Then again, adequate for us is exceptional for others, so it was a job well done."

Lying on the floor was an older version of Emily Potter. She looked rather similar to the horcrux that was running around. Early thirties or so. She quickly rose to her feet and waited for the current timeline's Emily to speak.

"I take it that I retained some awareness in that locket? Or do you just remember this moment like Harry will?"

"Both are correct."

"Good then. Perhaps, then, you will know if the final thing I am worried about is going to become a problem?"

"I do not. I can't tell the future after all."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I will proceed. If things go awry we'll both know moments after it happens." The older Emily gave a pointed look to the table that Harry and Delphini were just beginning to rise from behind.

"MUM!"

Delphini launched herself at the woman like a silver haired bludger and the impact looked twice as hard. The newly bodied woman didn't even flinch as she enveloped the girl in her arms.

"Excellent work, dear. You've done everything perfectly."

"Of course, I'd never let you down, Mum. Not again."

The older Emily looked at her daughter. "You never have. This was never your fault, Delphini. It was mine. I made the choices that brought your life about in a state of peril. What's more, is that thanks to your time travel, I was fully aware of what I was getting into. And I did it all anyway."

"But Dad said you couldn't change the timeline."

"Your father's understanding of temporal magic is underdeveloped. It can be changed quite easily, though the main events have a way of happening one way or another."

At this, Harry spoke up, "So, all of this, doesn't have to happen?"

The older Emily began to make her way to Harry, gently pushing her daughter to the side, before she was cut off by her current self. Emily glared at herself hard, and the older her stopped.

"Possessive, much?"

"You should already know."

"I do. I just can't really fathom it."

"You should be able to. We should feel the exact same thing, and I don't like that another woman who loves my husband is walking to him, my future self or not."

"I can assure you, what I feel for Harry is much different than what you feel. You'll understand soon. This next year will change you from the person you are into... well, me."

Emily frowned. This was dangerous territory. Her newest self was hinting at the future, something she wanted to know nothing of, lest she enslave herself to it. But it regarded her relationship, and potentially even her love, with and of Harry. The one thing she couldn't survive without.

"You do love him more than anything else on this earth. Correct?

"Of course, that goes without saying."

Emily nodded, "Then keep it all to yourself and get back to your own time. You're ruining my honeymoon."

Older Emily sighed. "How is it that I used to be so irritating?"

"Stop arguing, its weird." This statement was even weirder as both Delphini and her father said it in tandem. Emily wanted to stay annoyed, but she was realizing that time was getting short. She made her way to her daughter.

"Take care, love."

She gave the girl a hug and left the room, wrangling her emotions down in the hallway. While Delphini was going to be her daughter, she wasn't yet, and Emily knew she had to let go now so she could have her later. Perhaps the rest of them knew her struggle, as she was left alone for almost three minutes before Harry joined her.

"They're gone."

"Just like that, huh?"

"Yeah, just like that."

Emily slowly sank to the floor. She was not overcome with grief or loss, but she had the innate feeling that something was missing. She knew what it was, of course, but the feeling didn't subside just because she knew its cause.

Harry's hand came to rest of her shoulder, and she looked up to his face. "I know what your feeling. She should be here. Why isn't she here? We got attached to our daughter quickly, but she'll come along, we already know that. Let's focus on what we need to do before hand."

"A sound plan. Have I ever told you that I love it when you assert yourself?"

"Not that I recall, because we're normally fighting when I have to do it."

Emily smirked, "We never fight Harry. That would imply that you have a chance of being right."

"Wow, your future self was right, how are you so irritating?"

A/N: I'm taking a break to relax a bit after this. Thanks for experiencing this with me. Ciao

A/N UPDATE: So... I thought I posted this a couple months ago, and finished the story... I must've screwed something up in the process. So this is going up with the first chapter of the final book. So... yay. Power is Control hit 900 Favorites a couple days ago. I am really in awe that so many of you enjoyed my story. That, in and of itself, has made the journey worth it. Those of you hitting the sequels with me, we are on the final stretch.


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